In an information processing apparatus having a touch panel and a display, when a user performs an input operation on the touch panel, a position pointed to on the touch panel must be aligned with the position of a corresponding indication on the display. The recent higher definition or resolution display requires a higher resolution touch panel. Such a higher resolution touch panel requires more accurate operation of pointing to an indication of a desired position on the display. However, the pointing operation with a finger produces an inaccurate pointing to the desired position. Thus it is imperative to use a stylus pen with a sharp distal end.
However, even when a stylus pen is used on a higher resolution display of a small-sized terminal, there still is the problem that it is difficult to point accurately to very small buttons and other items on a display screen. On the other hand, when a separate pointing device such as a mouse is used, the volume or size of such a pointing device itself becomes an obstacle to reduce the size of the information processing apparatus.
T. Sasaki in Japanese Patent Publication JP-A-HEI 8-221204 published on Aug. 30, 1996 discloses an apparatus, in which a touch panel is placed over a display, and in which the coordinates of a position pressed on the display are detected, and an indicator on a mouse emulation section, while being held pressed, is moved in any desired direction to input the locus of the movement. Based on the locus of the movement of the indicator, a moving amount calculating means calculates the amount of the movement, while a moving direction calculating means calculates the direction of the movement based on the locus of the movement of the indicator. A moving amount converting means converts the thus calculated amount and direction of the movement on the mouse emulation section into the amount and direction of movement for the cursor to be moved on the display section, thus causing the cursor to move.
O. Fukao in Japanese Patent Publication JP-A-HEI 7-72976 published on Mar. 17, 1995, discloses a system, in which an area for recognizing an operation equivalent to a mouse operation is provided on the periphery of the effective display area of an LCD. When a side region is pointed through a touch panel, the cursor is caused to move accordingly based on whether the side corresponds to the top, bottom, left or right side, and similarly, when the region pointed to is a corner region, one of a plurality of mouse button operations is recognized accordingly based on whether the corner is the upper left, upper right or lower left corner, for processing for that purpose.
H. Noto in Japanese Patent Publication JP-A-HEI 6-230888 published on Aug. 19, 1994 discloses a touch panel for drawing graphics and writing characters, and an information processing apparatus in which a display area, where locus data produced by manipulating and pressing a pen on the touch panel is displayed, can be changed as desired. When a peripheral area of the touch panel is pointed to, the display area moves accordingly.